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My dry fly hackle falls forward as I get closer to the eye of the hook

Im a noob when it comes to tying dries and Ive tried all sorts of different techniques but when I get to the end of the hook and want to tie my hackle off I have a bunch of fibers that are falling forward and its impossible to tie the hackle off without them all getting caught and creating an ugly mess.

Im stripping or trimming the hackles at the end of the feather off and tying the bare quill to the hook shank shiny side up. I leave a little bit of bare quill so that the fibers stand up right on the first full turn, and everything seems fine until I make a few full turns and then the fibers start falling forward.

This will happen if you don't have a smooth, even thread base to wrap your hackle around. Make sure there is no "step down" just behind the eye. Also, stop your hackle half an eye distance or so behind the eye.

As for trimming the hackle, Ugh... - maybe for a nice beautiful presentation fly - but for a "fishing" fly, use your fingers, the half hitch, or the hackle guard - and don't sweat a few fibers sticking out at random - and if so, you can also remove them.

Thanks for posting Norm, using Barry's method would definitely improve my tying too.
I have success using the thread to push back a stray hackle barb or two.
By wrapping at an angle in the direction of the tail of the fly will cause the stray barb to go in that direction. Then wrapping over it's base keeps it where it needs to be.

Try tying your dry flies as parachute patterns - you won't have the hackle falling forward, there is just the post for the wing so you don't have to worry about having even wings, and best of all, the fly lands on the water without tipping over on it's side...you can even go up a hackle size If you want. Once you get the hang of dealing with the post, I think you will have a good time tying and fishing your favorite dry patterns tied in the parachute style.

Try tying your dry flies as parachute patterns - you won't have the hackle falling forward, there is just the post for the wing so you don't have to worry about having even wings, and best of all, the fly lands on the water without tipping over on it's side...you can even go up a hackle size If you want. Once you get the hang of dealing with the post, I think you will have a good time tying and fishing your favorite dry patterns tied in the parachute style.

Ditto! Collar-hackled dry flies are pretty, but such a pain, both in the vise and on the water. Parachutes all the way for me!

"... trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience." -- John Voelker (aka Robert Traver), Testament of a Fisherman

Try tying your dry flies as parachute patterns - you won't have the hackle falling forward, there is just the post for the wing so you don't have to worry about having even wings, and best of all, the fly lands on the water without tipping over on it's side...you can even go up a hackle size If you want. Once you get the hang of dealing with the post, I think you will have a good time tying and fishing your favorite dry patterns tied in the parachute style.

Ditto! Collar-hackled dry flies are pretty, but such a pain, both in the vise and on the water. Parachutes all the way for me!

for me the opposite. I'm not a fan of parachutes(on still waters) and find using a good quality hackle makes hackled dries not too bad. Going to be dry fly trouting on a river this year for first time so maybe need to revisit the 'chutes?

Matthew 25: 35-36 "Out of every 100 men, 10 shouldnt even be there, 80 are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back. "No man ever steps in the same river twice" Heraclitus, 5 B.C